Second City of Stamford employee arrested on larceny charges

Facing larceny charges: Accountant then retires, allowing him to collect his pension

Magdalene Perez, Staff Writer

Published
9:42 pm EDT, Thursday, May 20, 2010

James Santorella, 62, of Norwalk, a City of Stamford accountant, was arrested and charged with two counts of larceny in the first degree.

James Santorella, 62, of Norwalk, a City of Stamford accountant, was arrested and charged with two counts of larceny in the first degree.

Photo: Contributed Photo

Photo: Contributed Photo

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James Santorella, 62, of Norwalk, a City of Stamford accountant, was arrested and charged with two counts of larceny in the first degree.

James Santorella, 62, of Norwalk, a City of Stamford accountant, was arrested and charged with two counts of larceny in the first degree.

Photo: Contributed Photo

Second City of Stamford employee arrested on larceny charges

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STAMFORD -- A city accountant arrested Thursday on first-degree larceny charges promptly retired, meaning he will be free to collect his municipal pension.

James Santorella, 62, of Scribner Avenue, Norwalk, turned himself in Thursday afternoon after police notified him of a warrant for his arrest, Police Capt. Richard Conklin said. Santorella was charged with two counts of first-degree larceny for allegedly stealing $19,000 in city funds. He was released without bond and is to appear for arraignment June 3 at state Superior Court in Stamford.

Police said they have not found reason to believe the case is linked a separate investigation of former city employee Fred Manfredonia, who was arrested on charges of larceny and forgery last month.

"At this point in our investigations, which neither one is complete, we have no information to lead us in that direction," Conklin said.

The allegations against Santorella first came to light last month, when someone in the city controller's office identified a payment in the accounting department's first-quarter report that lacked proper back-up documentation, according to a statement released by police. An internal investigation soon found Santorella had accessed and altered computer files regarding that and a second questionable payment. The city controller and policy director confronted Santorella about the discrepancies, later contacting police.

City Director of Legal Affairs Michael Larobina said Santorella submitted his resignation Thursday morning, prior to any disciplinary hearing. Under the city charter, he will be free to collect his pension, Larobina said. Santorella had been on paid leave since May 3 as police investigated his actions.

The situation played out differently three weeks ago, when police arrested Manfredonia, a longtime human resources employee, on one count of first-degree larceny and five counts of third-degree forgery for allegedly stealing at least $14,000 from an employee tuition reimbursement account. City officials held a disciplinary hearing on the same day as Manfredonia's arrest, notifying him of his termination the following day, April 30.

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Larobina said the only difference in the handling of the cases is that Santorella chose to retire while Manfredonia did not. City officials did not hold a disciplinary hearing for Santorella because it has been the administration's practice not to conduct a hearing until after police have made an arrest.

Conklin said Santorella was released without bond in part because he cooperated fully with the investigation.

"Santorella was very forthcoming about his involvement and actions in this investigation," he said. "We felt he was very forthcoming and actually pointed out things to us that we hadn't discovered yet."

Conklin said Santorella offered to reimburse the city for any funds lost, showing police a receipt for money transferred to his lawyer's escrow account.

Santorella's lawyer, Stephen Seeger, confirmed Santorella offered to provide immediate restitution for the missing funds. Seeger said Santorella did everything he could to cooperate with police.

"My client was very clear, he was not interested in hiding anything," Seeger said. "My client's case is very distinguishable from the Manfredonia case. He made a few mistakes and he came clean."

Seeger said Santorella's decided to retire "in an effort to spare the city further investigation into his conduct."

"The resignation from my client's perspective is the right thing to do," Seeger said. "It will minimize the blemish that his conduct created."

Santorella was subject to disciplinary action in 1994, when he received a two-week suspension and adjustment of vacation time after officials found he had initiated and approved a series of transactions to pay himself $4,339 for 137 hours of overtime. His supervisor defended the transactions, and Santorella filed a grievance over the punishment.

He was again subject to disciplinary hearings in 1995, after the city discovered a loss of $198,000 from the tax collector's office, according to articles published in The Advocate at the time of the investigation. Three city employees, not including Santorella, were fired in the incident, though all three were later reinstated. It was not clear from the articles whether Santorella was ever disciplined in the incident.

However, Seeger said Santorella was never subject to disciplinary hearings related to the missing funds in the tax collector's office. In addition, Santorella won his grievance in the 1994 matter, vindicating his position that he had not committed wrongdoing, Seeger said.

Santorella is the third city employee to come under criminal investigation this year. In February, police arrested Wendy Greco, an office support specialist in the city's health department, on charges she dipped into the debit account of a housing code enforcement association, stealing more than $16,000.

In the wake of the investigations, the city has hired BlumShapiro to conduct a forensic audit of city records. In addition, city officials have announced an internal compliance and controls initiative, which will include ethics training and a hotline to report suspected malfeasance.

Staff writer Magdalene Perez can be reached at 203-964-2240 or magdalene.perez@scni.com.